Cuap. III. ] REMARKS ON ITS TRADE. 37 
and silk —are not so easily brought to it as to the 
northern port of Shanghae. This, of course, will 
be much against Amoy; but nevertheless it may do 
a considerable portion of business in other ways. 
All sorts of coins are current here: dollars, rupees, 
English shillings and sixpences, Dutch coins, &c. 
&c., are all met with, and pass current by weight. 
Native gold, in bars, is sometimes brought in con- 
siderable quantities, to pay for the cotton and 
opium, and is I believe considered of a very pure 
quality. 
During my stay here I was continually tra- 
velling in the interior, going sometimes a 
considerable distance up the rivers, and then 
landing, and prosecuting my botanical researches 
in the adjacent country. Frequently in these 
excursions | came unexpectedly upon small towns 
and villages, and generally walked into them with- 
out the least obstruction on the part of the natives; 
indeed, they seemed in most cases highly delighted 
to see me. When the day was hot I would sit 
down under the shade of a large banyan-tree, gene- 
rally found growing near the houses, and then 
the whole village—men, women, and children, 
would gather around, gazing at me with curio- 
sity not unmixed with fear, as if I were a 
being from another world. Then one would begin 
to examine my clothes, another would peep into 
my pockets, while several others were examin- 
ing my specimens. The general opinion seemed 
to be that I was a medical man, and in a very 
pd 3 
